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Genting Arena

The Genting Arena is a multipurpose indoor arena located at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) near Birmingham, England. It has a capacity of 16,000 seats. The venue was built as the seventh hall of the NEC complex. After 18 months of construction, the arena opened as the "Birmingham International Arena" in December 1980 with a concert by Queen.

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The venue was known as Birmingham International Arena until 1 September 1983,[2] then as NEC Arena from 5 September 1983 to 31 August 2008.

From 1 September 2008, the NEC Arena was officially renamed as the LG Arena, following a naming-rights sponsorship deal with global electronics company LG. The arena then underwent a £29 million overhaul of its facilities, paid for by loans from Birmingham City Council and regional development agency Advantage West Midlands.[3]

Work on the LG Arena was finished mid October 2009 and the arena hosted its first concert with Tom Jones. Included in the installation were around 1,000 new seats, bringing the capacity to 16,000[4] to compete with venues such as The O2 Arena in London and the Manchester Arena in Manchester, which are amongst the busiest music venues in the world. Also constructed were new hospitality areas and a forum containing new bars, restaurants and other customer facilities. Prior to its first concert, the arena hosted the 2009 Horse of the Year show.

In 2011 the venue became the tenth-busiest arena in the world[5] and 13th-busiest in 2014.[6]

It was announced in November 2014 that as part of a sponsorship deal with the casino group, the arena would be renamed the "Genting Arena" from 6 January 2015.[7][8]